Location: Stored in Ho Fang’s booby-trapped teak cabinet in the Shrine to the Bloated Woman (China)
Physical Description: Five scrolls, handwritten on fine parchment, plus five additional scrolls of handwritten commentaries, stored in a matching set of silk scroll boxes.
Author: unknown, additional commentaries by unknown author
Publication History: Original Classic Chinese, c. 300 BCE. Commentaries: unknown date; originally transcribed on the long-lost great black tablets by the spawn of Cthulhu. The oldest copies are over 15,000 years old and preserved in scroll form somewhere in the depths of interior China. The commentaries contain select passages and obscene rituals extracted from the original work.
Skim:
This is the most singularly vile tome the investigators will encounter during the campaign. Attempts to read this work may evoke physical and emotional responses from even the most hardened investigator. While the Necronomicon (Al Azif) conveys vastly more knowledge, this work fully captures the true horror of the Mythos. It stands apart as a truly monstrous obscenity. If investigators employ a translator, the consequences should be appropriately disastrous.
A comprehensive guide to worship of the ageless Cthulhu. Investigators delving into this hideous collection of scrolls find themselves poring over horrifically nihilistic pronouncements about the welcome eradication of humanity, the elevation of abominable and pitiless ancient masters, and unnervingly detailed accounts of savage violence and depravity in the service of the Sleeper in R’lyeh. The text ends with a graphic and highly detailed description of an apocalyptic awakening of the ancient entity.
The accompanying dispassionate and scattered commentaries further emphasize the position that humanity is useless and pathetic—fit only for feeding stock. The author of the commentariesThe more bland sections describe the sinking of Mu and R’lyeh, as well as details about the lost continents, and their various inhabitants, as well as an incomplete map of R’lyeh, which matches no known earthly location.
Spells: Call Cyäegha, Contact Cthulhu, Contact Deep Ones, Contact Father Dagon, Contact Mother Hydra, Wave of Oblivion. If desired, you may also include Breath of the Deep (Keeper Rulebook, page 247) and its companion spell Breath of Dagon (described below)
Connection to the Broader Campaign:
Carl Stanford’s Gift: Given to Ho Fang as a gift by Carl Stanford, but the investigators will not know this or appreciate the significance unless a note is placed elsewhere. Possibilities include a note attached to the scrolls, correspondence in Stanford’s quarters, or a catalog kept in Ho Fang’s Library, which could indicate the origins and location of his Mythos tomes. This catalog could include an empty location entry for the sought-after Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan. If planning on connecting MoN to Shadows of Yog-Sothoth or other Cthulhu-adjacent adventures, this tome provides excellent foreshadowing. It offers a strong link to future investigations…perhaps even a key to finding R’lyeh.
The Vanishing Conjurer: If adding The Vanishing Conjurer to your campaign and incorporating Carl Stanford as the antagonist (discussed previously here), this is a nice tome to include in his collection to establish his connection to Cthulhu.
Wave of Oblivion: As suggested, this spell may be of use against the Dark Mistress or Luxuriant Goddess. If obtained earlier in the campaign, this same spell could fend off cultists at sea or be used to interfere with the Ivory Wind in England.
Call Cyäegha: The only tome in the campaign capable of summoning this Great Old One, the wrathful, sleeping god of caverns and darkness. Hatred incarnate, this baleful entity presents as a great black mass of tentacles with a single soul-annihilating green eye staring from its center. Keepers may wish to present this dangerous spell as a nuclear option for overwhelming cultists and Nyarlathotep encounters, such as Gray Dragon Island, Mountain of the Black Wind, or other large cult rituals in Australia and Egypt. See Thorough Reading below for sample investigator bait.
Contact Deep Ones: Consider replacing this spell with Summon Deep Ones. This could be useful to strategically draw Deep Ones away from locations while infiltrating Gray Dragon Island. See Thorough Reading below for sample investigator bait.
Thorough Reading:
Call Cyäegha: When the time arises, we call forth the all-seeing eye in the darkness. He shall witness our Great Lord’s orgy of blood and destruction. He shall sunder the vay-in and rise like a black sun from his cavern of shadow. Those who look upon him will have their souls torn from their wretched, weak flesh. His multitudinous black limbs sunder them as he devours their pitiful light. When the need arises, the faithful will speak the following words…
Contact Cthulhu: We stand before the water. We kneel. Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn. Sleeping Lord, we hear your call. We worship you in all your terrible glory. Lay still yet in your Deathless Slumber. Stir not, but send your wicked dreams to us. Guide our hands as we spill blood in your name. Let the blood fill the ocean. May you find the flayed skin and splintered bone, our meager offerings as you emerge from your house in R’lyeh. But for now, fill us with infinite loathing, limitless abhorrence, and dreaming hunger. Show us the Way.
Contact Deep Ones: Come our immortal brothers. Come, Children of the Sea, servants of the powerful Father and Blessed Mother. Join us from your ancient homes beneath the waves. From Y’ha-nthlei, Y’lu-Y’loa, K’toch, and Y’ham-gom-loa. Merciless priests and priestesses. Speak the words. Iä! Iä! Iä!
Contact Dagon: Iä! Father Da-gon! I swear fealty to thee. Regard me as a Child of the Sea, though I trod the earth. Great and wise, the highest priest of our Sleeping Lord, share with me his secrets. Show me his will and I shall surrender my pathetic husk to his pitiless desires. Guide me to the abyss where I may find my awakening. I speak the sacred words…
Contact Hydra: Iä! Mother Hydra! I swear my love to thee. Regard me as your own, a Child of the Sea, though I trod the earth. Beautiful and wise, the highest priestess of our Sleeping Lord, share with me his secrets. Show me his wants and I shall surrender my vile soul to his depraved designs. Guide me to the abyss where I may find my awakening. I speak the sacred words…
Additional Spell:
Breath of Dagon:
Cost: 8 magic points; 1D6 Sanity points; Deep One scales (to be consumed)
Casting time: 1 round
The target painfully develops gills around their neck and gains the ability to breathe both air and water for 1D4 hours (rolled by Keeper and kept secret from players). If the target does not safely reach the surface and avoid drowning (Keeper Rulebook, page 124) when the spell’s effects expire, they return to life as a Deep One.